Sony's House: "You Buy It, You Own It"

Andrew House got incredibly animated towards the end of Sony's E3 press conference, almost projecting a combative persona as he laid down the Playstation 4's policy on used games.

In a follow-up interview, House reiterate his point -- that he feels Sony have responded to a bubbling feeling of discontent from consumers over their shifting rights in this digital age --saying that for all of the scepticism following the PS4 reveal in Februry, Sony never had any intention of restricting consumer rights regarding physical media.

“You could argue that it’s a storm in a teacup – a very vocal minority of passionate gamers,” said House. “This huge outpouring of feeling around the concept of ownership of content. But I have to say I don’t see it that way.

“I think we saw a lightning rod for feeling that has been bubbling up – that doesn’t just apply to games, but to entertainment overall. I think there’s an increasing nervousness about what ownership of content means, in the absence of physical goods. When that nervousness was starting to migrate into control over physical goods that consumers have purchased, that was a bridge too far."

House addressed Sony's silence on the matter following the February reveal, stating that Sony's choice was never reactionary (Microsoft have unveiled a confusing, restricted approach), but rather that the company had no intention of changing what has been a fifteen-year policy.

“I want to be very clear about where we have been on this issue: I think there’s a danger that we could be seen to have reacted and capitalized on a situation. When we first announced PS4 in February, people were saying, ‘Oh, Sony’s being coy’ – almost with some implicit suspicion.

“It struck us as very odd. We had no intention of changing our position – it hasn’t changed from what it’s been for the last fifteen years. We believe that if you buy it, you own it, you’re able to do with it what you want.” [Yahoo]